He's had that clause in his last few contracts. But with their overall late night haul exceeding $300 million a year, $8-13 million isn't enough to deter CBS from getting someone else if they decide Craig Ferguson's not their best option.

mactheknife:He's had that clause in his last few contracts. But with their overall late night haul exceeding $300 million a year, $8-13 million isn't enough to deter CBS from getting someone else if they decide Craig Ferguson's not their best option.

Still a nice payday for being found wanting. Actually, I like his show.

Man On A Mission:jbc: It will be one of four people: Ferguson, Conan, Jon Stewart or Joel McHale.

Whatever you're smoking, please share with the rest of us. Ferguson isn't "young" enough, Conan already failed in the same timeslot on the younger-skewing NBC, Stewart makes WAY too much to ever leave Comedy Central, and McHale...well, that's a remote possibility, perhaps.

Think more along the lines of Ellen Degeneres, Drew Carey, Chris Hardwick or even Aisha Taylor if CBS really wanted to shake things up.

ellen & drew both already have fark you money and have their own good thing going on. not to mention this is CBS. lots of old viewers won't watch ellen cause of that 'I kissed a girl and I liked it' thing

Ferguson is to "WTF?" for the 11:30 timeslot and they know it. I think they also know he'd walk away before he'd make the changes they'd want to put him there. I love his show and wouldn't want him to move because of that.

I just hope they give him a decent lead-in. Even with DVR, I think that lead-in matters.

OtherLittleGuy:jbc: It will be one of four people: Ferguson, Conan, Jon Stewart or Joel McHale.

Forget Stewart (and Colbert). They have their own little segment of late night carved out.

Joel McHale would be great. Would he be Ready For Late Night Broadcast? And who would replace him on The Soup?

This notion that a job on broadcast TV is always superior to a job on cable TV is still hanging around, even though it hasn't been true for quite a while now. I mean, I remember that a few years ago, people were bouncing around the idea that Jon Stewart should take over the CBS Evening News. Why the hell would he want to give up what he's got so he can do his act at 6:30 for old people snoozing in front of the TV after coming home from having the early bird special at Country Kitchen?

For a lot of the people they are mentioning, this is a lateral move. And it would be to a show that's really no bigger or more prestigious than they've got now.

NickelP:Man On A Mission: jbc: It will be one of four people: Ferguson, Conan, Jon Stewart or Joel McHale.

Whatever you're smoking, please share with the rest of us. Ferguson isn't "young" enough, Conan already failed in the same timeslot on the younger-skewing NBC, Stewart makes WAY too much to ever leave Comedy Central, and McHale...well, that's a remote possibility, perhaps.

Think more along the lines of Ellen Degeneres, Drew Carey, Chris Hardwick or even Aisha Taylor if CBS really wanted to shake things up.

ellen & drew both already have fark you money and have their own good thing going on. not to mention this is CBS. lots of old viewers won't watch ellen cause of that 'I kissed a girl and I liked it' thing

Like CBS would ever let Geoff Peterson the gay robot, Secretariat, the rusty trombone, the Shy Houseband and "Ay Caramba" swearing, among other things, make the jump to 11:35pm. But then Ferguson is no idiot so if he ever got picked he may not even want those bits to survive anyways. Which would be too bad because it's that stuff and more which makes his show so hilarious.

I love Craig Ferguson as well, and find him the funniest of all the late-night chat show hosts, but there's no way the brass at CBS would let him do his show at 11:30. He gets away with a lot of what he does because it comes on after midnight. I'm not even sure who would be a good replacement for Letterman; Conan has his own show on TBS, Colbert/Stewart aren't leaving Comedy Central, Joel McHale isn't funny enough (IMO), and Chelsea Handler, the other name I've heard bandied about, isn't sober enough.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for one night only, it's The Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Tune in tomorrow night for The Late Show with Stephen Cobert, the new host of The Late Show for years and years to come.

/Wonder if that would make it through court//Doubt CBS wants to take away NBC's long running and hard earned title as biggest jerks in late night staffing decisions

Yeah, I'd be curious to see Hardwick as well...but man, he's still a niche host overall, right? For a certain segment he's all over the place, but does your average late night (network) watcher know who the hell he is? For that matter, I can't see him ever giving up his current career for it. He has a damn good thing going with Nerdist/Legendary and @Midnight.

Now McHale, there's an interesting idea if he had any interest at all in it.

Though to be fair, I think Ferguson was a bit winded by the end of his guest shot. Barker managed his longevity by being the sane person next to the insane winners - Ferguson was as excited as his winners, and you could kind of see him thinking "hm, maybe Barker had it right" by the end of the show...

I don't want Ferguson to move out of his show. He's farking golden where he is and he has a tight-knit, devoted fanbase. Chelsea Handler's too drunk. Maybe Carrie Fisher if it's important that the host be a drunk psychopath. Chris Hardwick probably wouldn't require a hard money-sell to move out of BBCAmerica's basement. I don't think that he would have enough chutzpah to turn the guests' at-ease meters on and off at will. Letterman's pretty good at that and Carson was better. You can't do a total unknown like Harley Morenstein but if Craig were to move to Letterman's slot, I think Harley could provide at least an acceptable ad hoc replacement. What about another British Comic to replace Ferguson (sorry if this is threadjacking. Delete as appropriate)? Dara O'Briain would be perfect as the snarky outsider commentator on American foibles.

Lokasenna:No, I think they announced a couple of weeks ago that they were trading shows for one particular day on which it's common to pull a jape or two

Not to mention it was Craig's idea in the first place.

I have no doubt that Ferguson could host the main show. He'd have to ditch the WTF aspects of his show, the swearing, etc, but lost in all the bizarre stuff that they do is that he is by far the best in the interview segments of anyone on late night shows.

I don't think CBS will pick him, but he could definitely do a good show if they did.

taxandspend:JosephFinn: Yeah, I'd be curious to see Hardwick as well...but man, he's still a niche host overall, right? For a certain segment he's all over the place, but does your average late night (network) watcher know who the hell he is? For that matter, I can't see him ever giving up his current career for it. He has a damn good thing going with Nerdist/Legendary and @Midnight.

Now McHale, there's an interesting idea if he had any interest at all in it.

Chris Hardwick isn't funny enough to host The Late Show.

FTFM.

To be fair to Hardwick, he is a pretty decent interviewer, he is pretty much poltically neutral, and has a fanbase. Yeah he has his eye rolling moments, but there are people that like what he does.

Granted, he doesn't have a chance in hell to get the job; but he is decently funny to some people and I can think of much worse comedians that are out there.

Honestly, my money is on Drew Carey. His April Fools show wasn't bad for his first time. With proper polishing and some good advice from Peter Lassally, I think Carey would be a better fit.

Pure and simple, Craig wouldn't work with a 11:30 time slot. He would be forced to give up too much of what makes his show so much fun. He has so much more freedom with the Late Late Show than he would with the flagship.